Elizabeth was the seventh of the eight children of Charles Robb and Margaret Monteith. The register in the family Bible contains the following information about her:

Born at Malton, 21st June. Baptized July 12th 1820. Married St. Martins in the Fields to Joseph Boden 22nd Feby. 1841, Died 10th January 1860, age 39 years. Buried at Tower Hamlets Cemetery.

I’ve obtained a copy of the marriage certificate for Elizabeth and Joseph. Under ‘age’ Joseph is said to be of ‘full age’ (he was born in 1814, so would have been 26 or 27) whereas Elizabeth is a ‘minor’ (she would have been a few months short of her 21st birthday). Joseph’s profession is given as ‘dentist’ and his address as 32 Great Castle Street (probably the road that leads off Regent Street, just north of Oxford Street). His father, John Boden, is described as a farmer (we know from census records that Joseph was born in Derbyshire).

Elizabeth’s address is given simply as ‘Charing Cross’ and her father Charles is described as a ‘Gent’. I would be interested to find out more about the use of this term and what it implied. For example, does it suggest an independent source of income? That seems at odds with Charles’ description as a ‘clerk’ in the census taken later that same year.

The wedding was conducted by Septimus Ramsey, the curate of St. Martin’s, and witnessed by Charles Robb and Margaret Wright.

At the time of the 1851 census Elizabeth and Joseph, now aged 30 and 37 respectively, were living at 54 Lawrence Lane in the parish of St. Mary le Bow, with 16 year old house servant Elizabeth Earl.

I’ve been unable to confirm the date of Joseph’s death – there are plenty of death records for Joseph Bodens of roughly the same age, but none in London or at around the right time. However, he must have died some time between 1851 and 1860, since Elizabeth is described on her death certificate (which I’ve also just obtained) as ‘widow of Joseph Woolley (?) Boden, Dentist professed’.

Elizabeth died in January 1860 at the age of 39, at 30 Gillingham Street, in the registration district of St. George Hanover Square, and in the sub-district of Belgrave. The informant of her death, who was ‘in attendance’, was Matilda Robb, also of 30 Gillingham Street, Pimlico – her older sister. The cause of death is given as follows:

Found dead in Bed, probably resulting from fractured skull from a fall – 7 years since. No medical attendant.

Just over a month later, Matilda would marry Frederick King at St. George Hanover Square. The address for both Matilda and Frederick is given as Gillingham Street (which I believe was in a newly-built and genteel part of Pimlico). So it would seem that Elizabeth went to live with her sister after the death of her husband Joseph, whenever that occurred. In this post I speculated that Matilda came to London after the death in 1855 of Lady Frances Basset of Tehidy Park, Cornwall, for whom she had been working as a lady’s maid.